PrintWithMe, founded six years ago to provide wireless printer kiosks to multifamily communities and other popular public spaces such as coffee houses and breweries, is helping get out the vote.
The proptech firm’s #VoteWithMe initiative is providing free, secure printing of voter documents as well as scanning of documents, such as IDs, to send in with ballots this important election season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In an internal study, the firm found that only 25% to 30% of apartment renters own a working printer and didn’t want this to hinder Americans’ access to vote.
“We realized that quite a number of states are requiring residents to print out documents to fill out registration applications and mail them back during the pandemic,” says Jonathan Treble, founder and CEO of PrintWithMe. “We want to enable residents to exercise their right to vote.”
PrintWithMe has 1,300 printing stations in 46 states, with 800 of them in multifamily communities serving 286,000 apartment homes. The firm, which works with many of the top multifamily owners and managers in the nation, sent out communication to all of its property managers as well as published updates on social media, its website, and app to reach renters about the #VoteWithMe initiative. In the first week of October at its peak, it processed over 1,000 voter registration documents at its kiosks, many at multifamily communities.
The firm isn’t stopping its initiative once Election Day has passed. “We will continue the efforts for the mid-terms in 2022 and the next presidential election. It’s doesn’t cost us much to provide this,” says Treble. “At the end of the day, it’s ink and paper, but the impact we can make is much greater than that.”
